Dorota Podlaska. Diaries from Life and Travels

A solo show by Dorota Podlaska, built like a diary: several cycles of paintings, mostly watercolors, in which she records what she sees, experiences, and imagines. It is rounded out by a comic-mural made specially for the exhibition about her recent move to the Portuguese countryside.

Zachęta on the exhibition:

Dorota Podlaska’s art is narrative and often draws inspiration from personal experiences. The exhibition consists of several cycles of paintings that refer to the artist’s habit of noting down everything she sees and experiences. They are also connected by the watercolor technique, which the artist discovered a few years ago and which gave her greater freedom in painting. The ‘Diaries’ are paintings seen, experienced, and imagined. Imagination is the source of the series ‘In My Next Incarnation, I Want to Be a B-Boy,’ in which she painted impossible-to-fulfill dreams.

The ‘seen’ paintings were created during travels to various countries. This series also includes a patchwork sewn from fabrics and embroideries created since the 1970s or brought as souvenirs from distant countries; as well as an auto-therapeutic diary from the time of the pandemic.

A comic-mural titled ‘Either Too Cold or Too Hot,’ created especially for the exhibition, tells the story of the artist’s current situation as a newly-minted emigrant by choice. Dorota Podlaska dedicated many previous projects to the situation of emigrants in Poland. Now she paints her experiences of rural life in the different climate of sunny Portugal, far from familiar places and friends.

At the center of the mural is a goat, an animal for which the artist has great affection. The goat adapts to all conditions, symbolizing determination, independence, and the ability to overcome obstacles. In Dorota Podlaska’s personal mythology, it is more like Koziołek-Matołek, the patron of foolish journeys and ill-considered decisions.

Dorota Podlaska’s works most often address themes related to the artist’s private sphere of life. Narrativity is an important thread in her work. Her main medium is figurative painting, for which she has developed a specific presentation method. She arranges small-sized paintings and objects into installations. She also creates photographic documentation, actions, interventions in spaces, and designs books and publications.

The artist received a diploma in painting in 1989 from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. During her studies, she was associated with the art groups Naprzód and Yach-Film, with whom she engaged in video film art and created happenings. From 1993 to 2003, she created the Bydgoszcz ‘Wieża Ciśnień’ (Water Tower), being a member of the association of the same name. She currently lives and works in Warsaw and Portugal. Her achievements include exhibitions at, among others, Zachęta-National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art in Warsaw, Arsenał Gallery in Białystok, Łaźnia Gallery in Gdańsk, Trafostacja Sztuki in Szczecin, and study residencies in Finland, France, Italy, South Korea, and Japan.

What to expect

The exhibition gathers several cycles of paintings linked by watercolor and by the artist’s habit of noting down everything she sees and experiences. The ‘Diaries’ split into paintings seen, experienced, and imagined: the ‘seen’ ones grew out of travels to various countries, while the imagined make up the series ‘In My Next Incarnation, I Want to Be a B-Boy,’ in which she painted dreams that cannot come true. Alongside the paintings you will find a patchwork sewn from fabrics and embroideries, and an auto-therapeutic diary from the pandemic.

Made specially for the show, the comic-mural ‘Either Too Cold or Too Hot’ tells of Podlaska’s life as a newly-minted emigrant by choice, now settled in the countryside of sunny Portugal, far from familiar places and friends. At its center is a goat: a symbol of determination, independence, and overcoming obstacles, and in the artist’s private mythology closer to Koziołek-Matołek, the patron of foolish journeys and ill-considered decisions.

Tickets, opening hours, and current details are on Zachęta’s website.

Museum profile: Zachęta.